The County of Spires and Squires
Northamptonshire is in the heart of England, it has a wealth of history some of which you may know, but it is a county which can boast some hidden gems, over the last fifty years large-scale expansion has taken place and the population has expanded and Northampton is now the second largest town in England.
However, there still exists large amounts of countryside which can please the eye and soothe the troubled soul, take time to explore and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Northamptonshire is in the heart of England, it has a wealth of history some of which you may know, but it is a county which can boast some hidden gems, over the last fifty years large-scale expansion has taken place and the population has expanded and Northampton is now the second largest town in England.
However, there still exists large amounts of countryside which can please the eye and soothe the troubled soul, take time to explore and you may be pleasantly surprised.
If you visit Northamptonshire make a point of visiting Holdenby House, a very historic building set in beautiful countryside, Holdenby House was the largest private house in Elizabethan England, during the English Civil War it was briefly a prison for King Charles I.
Charles I was held prisoner there for five months in early 1647, but Charles attempted to escape and Oliver Cromwell sent soldiers to move him. George Joyce, an officer in the New Model Army, feared a Presbyterian plot to remove the King to London. Colonel Graves, a Presbyterian sympathiser, had been in charge at Holdenby House and Joyce was worried he would return with armed forces to rescue the King so Charles I was moved to a new prison in Newmarket where the New Model Army had its headquarters.
In 1649 Charles was eventually put on trial in London. He was accused of being a 'tyrant, traitor and murderer; and a public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England.' King Charles I was the first British Monarch to be charged with treason. He was found guilty and executed.
Charles I was held prisoner there for five months in early 1647, but Charles attempted to escape and Oliver Cromwell sent soldiers to move him. George Joyce, an officer in the New Model Army, feared a Presbyterian plot to remove the King to London. Colonel Graves, a Presbyterian sympathiser, had been in charge at Holdenby House and Joyce was worried he would return with armed forces to rescue the King so Charles I was moved to a new prison in Newmarket where the New Model Army had its headquarters.
In 1649 Charles was eventually put on trial in London. He was accused of being a 'tyrant, traitor and murderer; and a public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England.' King Charles I was the first British Monarch to be charged with treason. He was found guilty and executed.
Northamptonshire has more historic houses than any other English county, including Sulgrave Manor home of George Washington's English ancestors, and other links to the USA include Ecton Village, birthplace of Benjamin Franklin's father and home to his family for over three hundred years